WASHINGTON: The Federal Communications Commission today approved a Report and Order allowing TV stations to share a channel. The move, designed to free up spectrum for wireless broadband, is unprecedented.

The R&O “establishes framework for channel sharing,” said the FCC official describing it at today’s public meeting. The document itself had not been released as of this writing. “It an be summarized by two key terms, ‘voluntary,’ and ‘flexible.’”

Broadcasters will be able to decide whether or not to enter into an arrangement, and with whom. Stations entering into channel-sharing arrangements will have the flexibility to tailor their agreements. Stations will be able to decide how to divide the use of their allocation just as long as each operation transmits one standard-definition programming stream.

Each station will continue to be licensed separately, have it’s own call sign, and be subject to FCC rules and policies.

Full-power and Class A stations will be eligible, plus commercial, non-commercial and educational licensees. Must-carry and other carriage rights will remain intact for each sharing licensee. Further considerations for channel-sharing, as well as improved transmission in the VHF spectrum, will be addressed in a further proceeding.

~Deborah D. McAdams

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So I'm guessing here that what they would do is jointly own and operate a single transmitter, with one station having the channel X.1 and X.2 subchannels, and the other X.3 and X.4, or something like that. That could be done right off the shelf with the existing ATSC standard, completely compatible with all existing TV sets. Chopping the actual spectrum up into even narrower channels would waste more of it on guard bands, in addition to junking all existing equipment and consumer TV's.

The FAA’s current rules and proposed ban on flight over people, requirement of visual line of sight and restriction on nighttime flying, effectively prohibit broadcasters from using UAS for newsgathering. ~ WMUR-TV General Manager Jeff Bartlett